School board wants community input to rename Waterloo high school

The Waterloo Region District School Board wants to hear from the community to help rename Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School in Waterloo.

The board has opened an online form on its website. It wants people to suggest a name and provide arationale to support that choice and how the name honours reconciliation.

"We want to reach out to Indigenous communitieswho have been harmed by the legacy of Canada's first prime minister," said a school board release.

"We want to honour the enduring presence and deep traditional knowledge, laws, and philosophies of the Indigenous Peoples with whom we share this land today and work toward reconciliation."

A committee dedicated to looking at the names of all schools within the Waterloo Region District School Board started the consultation process last June.

The committee outlined several guidelines in an administrative procedure ahead of the naming of new schools.

• WRDSB schools and facilities will not be named for individuals as of June 2021;
• WRDSB facilities shall be given a name which is meaningful and reflects local historic events and/or places and distinguishing characteristics of the area, and that the name is not associated with family names;
• In selecting a place-based name that acknowledges and honours Indigenous history and the diverse cultures found within a community, it is necessary to seek early engagement and involvement from the appropriate Indigenous and school communities;
• In no case will any school or facility be named after a corporation;
• The people most harmed by a name will be directly consulted, with an Indigenous, equity and anti-racist approach.

Anyone who has a suggestion for a new school name canfill out a form on the school board website.

Submissions are being accepted until Jan. 31.